Over the weekend it was revealed that the CIA has been running secret anti-terrorism programs that were kept from Congress at the order of Vice President Cheney. This morning, we find out that the program had to do with secretly capturing or killing Al Qaeda operatives. Is anyone in the world surprised that Dick Cheney was running a secret CIA assassination program? Like… anyone? I would be upset if Dick Cheney saw Munich and DIDN’T say, “Well gee, that looks like a good idea.”

Confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor begin today. The Washington Post unwittingly details how Supreme Court confirmation hearings are kabuki theater. No one doubts that she is going to be nominated, but every group involved has their own specific goals and statements to make. Of course, the Post article treats this all as deadly serious. For example, “Conservatives are hoping to use the Sotomayor hearings as a way to motivate their base if they can successfully portray her as an activist judge whose “empathy” for certain groups guides her rulings more than court precedent or the written law.” WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?!?

Have you had enough of Sacha Baron Cohen’s junk? Apparently you are not alone. Bruno was the top movie in the country this weekend with a stellar opening day of $14.4 million. However, Saturday revenue for the film dropped 39%, one of the largest second-day drops ever. This is bad news for the film and indicates that audiences bought tickets  expecting another Borat and instead got another Ali G Indahouse.

Making the case for newspapers as a source of things you didn’t know you wanted to know, the New York Times uses the upcoming British Open to profile the business of golf sponsorships. Specifically, the article focuses on how golfers’ clothes are picked out months, even years, in advance.

Look, some days we have “real work” to do, and you’ll have to get your news, TV listings, and other dopey crap elsewhere.  BUT WE STILL HAVE LINKS:

• A small Italian town debuts a real live WALL-E
• Maybe we should hire this “generational consultant” to let us know what 2.0somethings really want out of a blog
• Lack of darts has long been the biggest problem of Nerfdom, and we finally have a solution
• Your landlord, bad as he may be, is not as bad as this guy’s
• Philadelphia country club goers are just a big bunch of racists

• Fantastic new District 9 trailer, embedded above for your viewing pleasure
• Bomb parts, live baby smuggled into federal buildings
• We don’t know why we’re surprised, but China has death buses
• 30 Rock syndicated repeats are gonna start on Comedy Central in a couple years, but that means we’re guaranteed at least two more new seasons of 30 Rock!
• Who wants a Reverse Gender Identical Clone?

The fiercest campaign raging in America right now is smack dab in our nation’s capitol.  A group of superheroes from both sides of the Marvel-DC aisle are going for the Washington D.C. mayor’s office, managed by a staff of young leaders attending the New Organizing Institute’s BootCamp.

They’re hard at work on the campaign trail while simultaneously keeping up their superheroic duties — the Green Lantern singlehandedly caught Marion Barry during his recent stalking escapade (and received the coveted Matthew Yglesias endorsement).  They certainly aren’t above pandering to populist issues, as Batwoman might carry the day by her anti-street cleaning fine position alone.

The election is this Friday, so sign up to vote! Our endorsement goes to the Atom, who combines the scientific knowledge we’ll need for the new economy with a strong civil rights stance.

Obama leaves Russia

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Death penalty for rioters in China

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Google announces operating system based on browser.

Okay? Cool!

Busy day for us, so light posting, and a light wrapup. Big ups to ShortFormBlog for finding the best clip of yesterday’s exciting car chase, featuring the killer play-by-play of Shepard Smith.

Plus:

• FRESHLY RELEASED! New trailer for the Robert-Smigel-directed, Patton-Oswalt-starring Big Fan
• Great housewarming gifts for the discerning gamer
• Apparently, porn’s giving up on “plot” and “story”

Massive rioting in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in northwest China, has left more than 156 dead and more than 1,000 injured. The whole thing is confusing and uses a lot of words I can’t pronounce, but it is generally kind of like Nepal without the adorable monks. Here are a few bullet points to guide you through it:

1. China is made up of a large number of disparate ethnic groups, the largest being the Han Chinese who control everything. Urumqi is populated by Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkish/Chinese.
2. The Chinese government has historically oppressed the Uighurs while extracting all the mineral wealth (oil) from their area they can. Uighurs feel they have not gotten their share of China’s rapid economic growth.
3. Some Uighurs feel that a lot of restrictions and recent public works projects are actually designed to drive them out of the region so it can be repopulated with Han Chinese. The Chinese government is afraid that expressions of Uighur pride and nationalism is the first step towards and open revolution and an attempt to create a breakaway nation.

For now rioting probably continues and there are disputes over whether most of the deaths have been caused by the rioters or by the police. The Internet has been cut for large areas of China and where it is still on sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked. Read more about this issue here. If any of our many readers (Ok well, two) who are China experts  want to correct me, I welcome their thoughts in the comments.

The running of the bulls kicked off in Pamplona, Spain with no serious injuries and only a few bumps and bruises. So, good for them?

The President signed an agreement on Monday to cut American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one-quarter. It looks like the treaty signals a warming between Russia and the United States and could lead to more significant arms control talks next year.

There were 7 new U.S. casualties in Afghanistan yesterday, reflecting the intensified fighting there. With more U.S. soldiers in the region and with those soldiers pushing out into areas that had been largely written off to Taliban or tribal control, this is probably only the start of increasing casualty numbers.

• Breaking news: there are racist chairpeople of the Republican party
• No, seriously, BREAKING NEWS: Cheese Lincoln’s head fell off!
• This is possibly the most horrifying logo I’ve seen on this blog of horrifying logos
• There really is something about this photo from Billy Mays’ funeral
• This Pringles banner ad has been making the rounds, do you have 90 seconds you want to waste?
• We just ordered this R/C copter from ThinkGeek, and will provide you with a full review when it arrives